An archive of this webinar is available here.

This webinar co-sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Children’s Leadership Council, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality.

The 2020 Census may seem like a long time away, but decisions are being made now in Washington that will affect the accuracy of the count.  In the past, the Census has undercounted young children, communities of color, and low income rural and urban households; very much related, immigrants also are at risk of disproportionate undercounting.  This matters a lot:  much federal funding is distributed by formulas based on population and income, and some communities will get less than they should if their residents are not accurately counted.  Further, congressional, state legislative, and municipal districts are re-drawn every ten years based on the Census count.  In 2020, for the first time, the Census Bureau will promote the Internet as the primary way to answer the census, which may increase the likelihood of an undercount in low-income communities.

In this webinar, learn from national Census experts about how we can protect and improve on the Census’ accuracy, so that low-income communities are not shortchanged.  This webinar will be useful for advocates and service providers working at the local, state, or federal levels.  If your communities receive funding based on federal or state formulas, this webinar is important to you.

Presenters:       

Terri Ann Lowenthal is a nationally recognized expert on the U.S. census. During a 14-year career as a congressional aide, she was staff director of the House census oversight subcommittee from 1987-94, and has advised the Census 2000 Initiative and The Census Project, Funders Census Initiative, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and business and industry data users.  She will describe how the 2020 Census will be used and the preparations for it going on now.

William O’Hare has more than forty years of experience in statistical analysis of social and demographic data.  Previously a Senior Consultant with the KIDS COUNT Project at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bill is the author of The Undercount of Young Children in the U.S. Decennial Census (SpringerBriefs in Population Studies).  Bill will explain about who is undercounted, with new state and local information and how advocates can use it.

Corrine Yu is Senior Counsel and Managing Policy Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and a leader in efforts to protect and improve the accuracy of the census.  She will describe action steps to make sure the Census is adequately funded and to prepare for the outreach needed in communities to get an accurate count.

Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, moderator.